to come to terms with facts. And now the series of adjustments have
almost reached their end. The belief in God has been traced to its
origin, and we know it to have issued in an altogether discredited view
of the world and of man. We know that man does not discover God, he
invents him, and an invention is properly discarded when a better
instrument is forthcoming. To-day the hypothesis of God stands in just
the same relation to the better life of to-day as the fire drill of the
savage does to the modern method of obtaining a light. The belief in God
may continue awhile in virtue of the lack of intelligence of some, of
the carelessness of others, and of the conservative character of the
mass. But no amount of apologising can make up for the absence of
genuine knowledge, nor can the flow of the finest eloquence do aught but
clothe in regal raiment the body of a corpse.

FOOTNOTE:

[5] I have discussed this question at length in my "Determinism or Free
Will."

Part II.

SUBSTITUTES FOR ATHEISM.

CHAPTER X.

A QUESTION OF PREJUDICE.

It affords some ground for surprise that there should be so great a
resentment shown against religious disbelief in general and against
Atheism in particular. We have here more than the mere rejection of a
theory or view of life. There is a certain emotional resentment, a
shrinking from the one who is guilty of disbelief, such as is not
explainable on ordinary grounds. The attitude is ridiculous, so
ridiculous that many who adopt it are ashamed to openly acknowledge it,
but it is there, and its existence calls for explanation.

We believe this is to be found in the peculiar history of the god-idea
combined with primitive theories of social life. Like many frames of
mind that persist in civilised society, this attitude towards disbelief
has its roots in a conception of the world that has been generally
discarded and in social conditions that have ceased to exist among
civilised people. To begin with, we have the fact that religion
dominates the life of primitive man to a degree that is almost
inconceivable to the modern mind. The anger of the tribal gods has to be
always reckoned with. What they desire must be done, what they do not
desire must be avoided. In the next place there exists a very strong
sense of collective responsibility. What one member of a tribe does the
whole of the tribe is responsible for, both to the members of other
tribes and to the gods. We see a